I’m not sure how many gardening enthusiasts in our area know about the many valuable services that the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at the University of Massachusett in Amherst offers. These include soil testing, which I wrote about recently, plant diagnostics and timely advice about pest control. The center also names a “plant of the month,” a service that provides insight and information to the home gardener.
This month, in honor of Arbor Day (April 21), the center has chosen the elegant, spring-blooming Leonard Messel magnolia (Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’). I admit I have always admired other people’s magnolias, but have never considered growing one myself. In Virginia, where I grew up, the magnolias I knew were Southern magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora), evergreens that can reach 100 feet in height, with large shiny leaves and huge, fragrant saucer-shaped blooms. I associate them with large, public gardens and spaces — the lawns outside county courthouses, or the grounds of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello — since they’re too big for most private yards.
The Leonard Messel magnolia, I’ve learned, is a different plant altogether. It is named after Colonel Leonard Messel, a serious plantsman who, in 1916, inherited Nyman’s Gardens, his family’s 600-acre estate in Handcross, Sussex, England. Leonard and his wife, Maud, devoted their lives to creating fabulous gardens and to developing new plant cultivars. Tragically, the handsome, medieval-style country house where they lived burned down in 1947, on Leonard’s 75th birthday. The estate, including the stone shell of the house, is now property of the British National Trust and open to the public. Definitely a place to visit if you happen to be in the South of England.
The Leonard Messel magnolia is a natural cross between Magnolia kobus and Magnolia stellata ‘Rosea.’ Unlike the Southern magnolia of my youth, it is deciduous and grows to only 15 to 25 feet, so it is better suited to smaller gardens. It can be grown as a single trunk or as a multi-stemmed clump, and makes a lovely specimen tree in a landscape.
Here is the UMass center’s description of the ‘Leonard Messel’ magnolia: “The silvery-grey, slightly furry-looking buds, and silver-grey bark, add winter interest to the landscape. The silvery bud scales open in mid-late April to deep fuchsia-pink buds that open to beautiful, fragrant 4-6 inch wide flowers, comprised of 12-15 fuchsia-pink ribbon or strap-like tepals (petals); white on the inside. The ribbon-like tepals move nicely in the wind, catching the sunlight, adding texture and movement in the garden.”
If that’s not enough to tempt you, the magnolia’s foliage turns yellow in fall, adding a bright accent to the autumn landscape.
I have been discouraged over the years from trying to grow hardy, deciduous magnolias here in Massachusetts because I’ve seen what a cruel late frost can do to their delicate flowers. It’s a pitiful sight. According to the center’s website, the ‘Leonard Messel’ is more frost resistant than star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) and saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana). It is hardy to USDA Zone 4, prefers full sun or light, dappled shade, and well-drained, organic slightly acidic soil.
The ‘Leonard Messel’ magnolia has earned many accolades. It won the Cary Award from nearby Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston; Kentucky’s Theodore Klein Plant Award; and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. This magnolia is surely one I’ll try. If I can’t get to Leonard Messel’s Nyman’s Gardens, at least I can commune with Mr. Messel through the spectacular magnolia named for him.
The University of Massachusetts is celebrating Earth Day and Arbor Day this year with a lecture and guided walks by acclaimed plant expert Michael Dirr. Dirr is the author of seven books, including “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture and Propagation and Uses,” a widely used and best-selling reference text.
He has a doctorate in plant physiology from UMass. He has established several arboreta, consults on tree selection, and has penned tree guides for many campuses.
The lecture will take place April 21 at 2 p.m. The cost is $50.
The walks will take place April 22 from 8 to 11:45 a.m. the cost is $80. Proceeds will benefit UMass Extension and the UMass Waugh Arboretum.
For more information and to register, go to: http://ag.umass.edu/landscape/events/umass-earth-day-arbor-day-celebration-with-dr-michael-dirr
You can also celebrate Arbor Day at Smith College in Northampton with an illustrated talk by Richard Higgins that explores Henry David Thoreau’s deep connection to trees. Trees were central to Henry David Thoreau’s creativity as a writer, his work as a naturalist, his thought and his inner life. He once wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own “shadow in the air.” Higgins is author of “Thoreau and the Language of Trees.” Pairing Thoreau’s words with his own black-and-white photographs, he looks at Thoreau’s keen perception of trees, the poetry he saw in them, and how they fed his soul.
The lecture, presented by the Smith College Tree Committee, will take place April 28 at noon in the Smith College Campus Center, Room 103-104.
An accredited arboretum, the Smith Botanic Garden is a living museum of diverse woody plants. Campus tree maps are available at the Lyman Plant House. The Campus Center is wheelchair accessible. For more information about this event or the Botanic Garden visit the web site at www.smith.edu/garden.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.